Rechargeable battery systems for electric vehicles with a purely electric drive and for hybrid vehicles and vehicles with fuel cell drive are the subject of current research. At present, in the said types of vehicle, lithium-ion batteries are preferably used, which are distinguished by a high energy density and an only slightly marked, undesired memory effect. The capability of a rechargeable battery to reliably supply the consumers present in the motor vehicles with electrical energy depends to a considerable extent on the thermal conditions prevailing in the environment of the battery. This is because both the electrochemical processes occurring in the battery in the provision and also in the receiving of electrical energy—in the sense of recharging—are greatly dependent on the operating temperature of the battery. Investigations of various lithium-ion-based battery systems have shown, for instance, that below a critical temperature, for instance in the region of approximately 0° C., the electrical energy density made available by the battery decreases greatly compared with higher operating temperatures. Below the critical temperature, in addition damage to the Li-ion cell can occur during charging.
Consequently, the provision of thermally well-defined environmental conditions is of considerable importance for an efficient and interference-free operation of said batteries in the motor vehicle. With regard to the considerable temperature fluctuations occurring under normal operating conditions in the operation of the motor vehicle, this means that these must be compensated by suitable temperature control devices coupled thermally with the battery, in order to keep the environmental temperature of the battery, and hence also the temperature of the battery itself, within a predetermined temperature interval. Such a device must be able, on the one hand, to increase the environmental temperature of the immediate environment of the battery, if the latter assumes a value which lies below the permissible temperature range. On the other hand, the possibility must also be provided to reduce the environmental temperature, if the latter upwardly exceeds said temperature interval.
EP 2 854 212 A1 discloses temperature control device for tempering of a battery. The control device has a cooling device able to be flowed through by a coolant for cooling the battery, an electric heating module for heating the battery, and a heat transmission component for the thermal coupling of the cooling device and the electric heating module to the battery. In the heat transmission component, a recess is present, in which the electric heating module is received and fastened to the heat transmission component by means of an adhesive connection.